Viewpoint: ABC Execs Ditch Some Traditional Practices, And It’s Paying Off

I?m fortunate to have access to the decision makers at the ABC and ESPN television networks.

As the Mountain Time Zone representative on the ABC affiliate Board of Governors, I?m one of only about a dozen affiliate representatives who have semi-annual face-to-face contact with network brass.

I just got back from California, where we convened around a big round table with the presidents of ABC and ESPN and the top network representatives for programming, marketing, sales, engineering and legal matters. We get to fire questions at the network about any topic of concern to affiliates.

I happen to be the board?s liaison to ABC News. As a former news director, this provides me unparalleled access to ABC News President Ben Sherwood, with whom I correspond regularly.

Sherwood talked about ABC?s plans for “Good Morning America” to overtake longtime national ratings leader, the NBC?s “Today Show.” ABC news? evening anchor Diane Sawyer also trails Brian Williams of NBC (ABC News dominates the ratings in El Paso.) Sherwood has ABC moving in the right direction. Headed by George Stephanopoulos, ABC?s political coverage is top-notch.

Sherwood doesn?t spill any beans about upcoming blockbuster reports. The meeting happened one day before ABC landed the exclusive interview with Marianne Gingrich, Newt?s second wife. She alleged that he asked for an ?open? marriage before their 1999 divorce. The explosive contents of the interview certainly didn?t hurt him in the South Carolina primary, where he rolled to victory.

There was a time when the Big Three nightly newscasts tended to open with the same story. Influenced by cable and the Internet, the nightly newscasts are shaking up long-held practices. Bill Wheatley, who worked at NBC News and now teaches at Columbia opines, ?the three evening newscasts have become more different from one another than at any time I can remember.?

Sherwood said that viewers these days ?make their choices. They pick what matters to them.?

Many days the differences are substantial. ABC?s morning and evening shows tend to spend less time covering national and international news than CBS and NBC. Researchers have found that CBS gives more time to the economy and the Middle East. NBC and ABC focus more on disaster and lifestyle news. Whatever the formula, the combined network news ratings for the TV season that ended in September increased for the first time in a decade.

This article first appeared in El Paso Inc.